HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 10282003 - C96 FHS #44
...- Contra
TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ^
FROM: FAMILY AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE ', . ®� , Costa
DATE: OCTOBER 28, 2003 °`��r` a "`� County
SUBJECT: CHALLENGES FOR EMPLOYMENT AND HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
Recommendation:
1. ACCEPT the report from the Employment and Human Services director on status of efforts to
address social service delivery challenges.
2. SUPPORT Employment and Human Service Department efforts to minimize service delivery
cutbacks within Workforce Services, Children and Family Services, and Aging and Adult
Services in the 2003/2004 program year.
Fiscal Impact., None
Rackpround:
In 2000, the Employment and Human Services Department presented to the Board of Supervisors a
report entitled "Change, Growth and Challenges." Included in the report was a comparison of
growth and changes over the past five years; a listing of major programs; County demographic
realities that are driving challenges; and a review of critical service delivery issues. A referral to the
Family and Human Services Committee now provides the opportunity to regularly discuss and
update these issues. Three annual reports have been presented since the referral.
On October 20, 2003 the Family and Human Services Committee considered the attached report
from John Cullen, Employment and Human Services Department Director, on challenges facing his
department in the areas of Workforce Services, Workforce Development Board, Children and Family
Services, and Aging and Adult Services.
Workforce Services
Reduced CalWORKs funding and declining economy present Workforce Services Bureau with major
challenges. Timely granting of cases and processing of status reports becomes problematic. The
new statewide CalW IN computer system, federal reauthorization of TANF and a switch to quarterly
reporting in CalWORKs require new skills from the staff, and will result in operational and service
delivery modification to minimize negative impacts on clients while staff incorporates the changes.
As resources become available, plans include restoration of Domestic Violence services to the
2001/2002 levels, expansion and enhancement of primary transportation services, and increase staff
to lower the caseload and better manage the workload.
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: x YES SIGN URE:
RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE
APPROVE OTHER
h
SIGNATURE(S): .. �D:
F DERAL GLOVER J H GIOIA
ACTION OF BOARD ON October 28, 2003 APPROVE AS RECOMMENDED X OTHER
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
None I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A`TRUE
X UNANIMOUS {ASSENT ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN
AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD
AYES: NOES: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN.
ABSENT: ABSTAIN:
ATTESTED October 28, 2003
JOHN SWEETEN,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF
Contact Person: Dorothy Sansoe(5-9008) SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
CC: CAO `
EHSD BY: �; ,
DEPUTY
FHS X44
Background 1continued):
Workforce Development Board
The Board's core Workforce Investment Act funding from the U.S. Department of Labor has declined
by 21%. This decline in resources has coincided with a significant increase in customer usage of the
four One-Stop Center and a growing demand for more youth development services. Other challenges
facing the Board include more effectively leveraging the resources of the One-Stop Center partners,
establishing more effective and integrated relationships and services with various community and
faith-based organizations, attracting new and more diverse business members to the Board,
maintaining its regional partnerships with various workforce development partners, and continuing to
evolve a regional One-Stop service delivery system with declining regional resources.
Children and Family Services
Budget cutbacks pose significant additional challenges to implementing key strategies in the Child
Welfare Redesign Plan. This will necessitate continued efforts to find grant funding for the full
implementation of the Plan. Additionally, outcomes and performance measures will be required by the
Sate as part of the new California Children and Family Service Review. And lastly, having received a
federal grant to implement a Child Welfare System of Care with other public agencies, the existing
array of services will be expanded to better serve children and families. As funding becomes
available, additional staff will be added that is focused on implementing the Redesign flan, including
Voluntary Family Maintenance. This program provides services to families at risk to help them remain
together and avoid removal of children into foster care. The second area of focus is staff for a Quality
Assurance Review unit.
Aging and Adult Services
Challenges are intensified by State budget cuts. Top focus area include: Reinstituting the Quality
Assurance program, finalization of the Long Term Care Integration action plan, a plan for integrated
client data collection, and reinstitution of Eligibility Worker training programs. As resources become
available, the top priorities for service restoration are an increase in Adult Protection staff for early
intervention in cases of self-neglect, and an increase in In Home Supportive Services staff to ensure
timely provision of services.
Employment and Human Services Department-wide)
The Department has been severely challenged over the past two fiscal years by declining Federal and
State revenues and increasing local costs. In fiscal year 2002/2003, $94.5 million were reduced from
the departmental budget, and $9.9 million in fiscal year 2003/2004. This has required significant
service delivery reductions in CaIWORKs, Child Welfare, Adult Services, and the departmental
infrastructure through the Loss of 15'/0 of approved positions over the past two years. Additionally,
over$10 million in community based contract services has been reduced/eliminated. The new State
administration poses an additional challenge in fiscal year 2003/2004. With a multi-billion dollar
shortfall and limited revenue options, the State will attempt to reduce mandated services and local
government support even further. As a Department, EHSD will advocate for needy children, families,
and adults to receive the highest of funding priorities in California and Contra Costa County.
f
EMPLOYMENT AND HUMAN SERVICES
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY
DATE October 13, 2003
TO Family & Human. Services Committee
Supervisor John Gioia
Supervisor Federal Glover
FROM John Cullen cc Dorothy Sansoe
SUBJECT EHSD Challenges
Recommendations
ACCEPT the report presented by the EHSD Director and staff on the status of efforts to
address social service delivery challenges;
REPORT OUT to the Board of Supervisors that progress is being made in these areas;
SUPPORT department efforts in the 2003-2004 program year to minimize service deliv-
ery cutbacks within the Workforce Services, Children & Family Services and Aging &
.Adult Services areas;
.PLACE the highest of county priorities on supporting essential social services to needy
persons in Contra Costa; and
KEEP this item on referral to FHS for another update in six (6) months.
Bacround
Three years ago, the department presented the fail Board with a report entitled Changes,
Growth and Challenges. Included within the report was a comparison of our growth and
changes over the past five (5) years; a listing of our major programs; county demographic
realities that are driving challenges; and, a review of critical service delivery issues. The
Board was very impressed with the information and desirous of continuing the discussion
on progress in addressing these challenges.
A Board referral to the FHS Committee now provides the opportunity to regularly discuss
and update these issues. This is an updated report in that continuing dialog.
Workforce Services
The Workforce Services Bureau, despite staffing reductions and reduced resources, con-
tinued to maintain the work participation rate, complete case reviews to verify time on
aid and continued to operate service programs. Below are examples of specific accom-
plishments grouped under major program headings.
EHSD Challenges 10-03
CaIWORKS
✓ Caseload - For the first time since CaIWORKs implementation the average
monthly caseload is increasing. For calendar year 2002, the average CaIWORKs
caseload was 7,266. Through September 2003, the average caseload for 2003 is
7,331. We expect this trend to continue.
✓ Job Retention - We continue to work with approximately 562 former CaIWORKs
participants to retain employment.
✓ Welfare to Work (WtW) Requirement - The number of adults with a WtW re-
quirement continues to decline. This indicates more aided adults have multiple
barriers to employment.
Work. Participation Rate - We continue to meet the mandated work participation
rate target even though in calendar year 2003 the monthly average rate dipped be-
low 30% for the first time since October 1999. This is further evidence that the
CaIWORKs adults with a WtW requirement have multiple barriers to overcome
before successfully participating in a WtW activity.
Learning Disability Services - Since implementing Learning Disabilities screen-
ings in April 2002, all CaIWORKs WtW participants agreeing to be screened have
received this service. Of the 2,231 CaIWORKs participants who were screened,
32% were found to have a possible learning disability. -For those clients deter-
mined to have a special learning need, various service providers (e.g. the Adult
Schools and private non-profit or for-profit organizations) are under contract to
provide additional diagnostic testing, assessments and education.
✓ Average Hourly Wage - CaIWORKs participants continue to get jobs with hourly
wages significantly higher than minimum wage. Continuing a trend started in De-
cember 1999, the average hourly wage at job placement has increased steadily to
an-all-time high of$9.59 per hour for calendar year 2003.
✓ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Referrals - For the first two quarters of 2003,
staff is referring approximately 53 individuals per month for screening services.
We are also accessing SAMHWORKS dollars to provide enhanced services to
those WtW participants who have both teaming disabilities and mental health is-
sues.
✓ Outreach Unit - Outreach Workers contact CaIWORKs WtW participants who are
in danger of being sanctioned for failure to meet WtW requirements, who miss the
first day of Job Club/Job Search, or who miss a SAMHWORKS appointment. For
the most recent reporting period, 95% of CaIWORKs participants who are con-
tacted by Outreach agree to cooperate with WtW requirements. This is an all time
high in successful contacts.
✓ Childcare - We continue to provide child care payments for over 800 families rep-
resenting over 1,500 children each month.
• Transportation
✓ Children's Transportation Project - Currently eight vehicles are in service Mon-
day-Friday, from 6:OOAM to 6:OOPM. An average of 100 children are transported
to school or childcare daily.
EI-ISD Challenges 10-03 2
✓ Rides to Success - This demand-response service provides an average of 1,100 to
1,300 one-way rides per month for CalWORKs participants
✓ The KEYS "Keoing E=loyment Equals Your Success" Auto Loan Program -
The KEYS program is the latest in an effort to develop a menu of options for case
managers to use in selecting the most appropriate employment transportation
choice for participants. The first KEYS loans were approved in January 2003 and
since then eight participants have received auto loans.
• Housing
✓ Emergency Assistance Grant - Since implementation in February 2002, seven
families received emergency grants averaging $1,057. This once-in-a-lifetime
program provides up to $1,500 to prevent loss of housing due to financial hard-
ship.
✓ Housing Information and Referral Services - Provides housing information and re-
ferral services via website access to a database that collects rental-housing infor-
mation. As of May 2003, landlords listed over 24,500 rental units with over 861
rental vacancies in the database. Over 600 CalWORKs and 175 Housing Author-
ity client searches were made on this system.
✓ Relocation Grant Program - This program provides a rine-time grant (limit of
$1,500) to allow a family to relocate closer to bona fide employment. Since im-
plementation in October 2001, 46 clients have bee» served receiving an average
grant of$1,353.
• Domestic Violence Services
✓ Domestic Violence Services are available in each of our district offices. From
April 2002 through September 2002, individual services were provided to 184 cli-
ents. Presentations were made at 421 Orientation meetings and 41 Job Club meet-
ings providing information to over 500 participants.
• Project Clean Slate
✓ This program continues to assist General Assistance and CalWORKs participants
to expunge their criminal records. For calendar 2002, 176 participants benefited
from this service.
• Completed Time-on-Aid and Child Support Buy Bach Reviews
✓ CalWORKs adults began reaching their 60-month life time limit in December
2002. As part of the time-on-aid verification process, workers reviewed and com-
pared the child support paid into the Child Support Services Department for Cal-
WORKs aided children. This review entailed comparing, month by month, the
CalWORKs cash payments and the collected child support since January 1998.
Child support payments made on behalf of CalWORKs children since January
1998 are used to reimburse the CalWORKs cash aid paid and therefore re-adjust
the adult's 60-month time clock,in effect buying back time.
• Implemented Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT)
In December 2002, CalWORKs staff implemented Electronics Benefit Transfer
(EBT), which changed the method of delivering cash aid and food stamps to cli-
EHSD Challenges 10-03 3
ents. Clients now access their cash and food stamps from personalized accounts
using a debit card, which resembles an ATM debit card.
+ One-Stop Business and Career Centers Services to Job Seekers
✓ The One-Stop Centers achieved noteworthy success over the last year due to lead-
ership of the Workforce Systems Committee of the Workforce Development
Board, collaboration of the core partners comprising the One-Stop Operator Con-
sortium, of which EHSD is the lead agency, and the hard work and dedication of
the One-Stop Center staff.
✓ New universal job seeker customers (non-WIA clients) increased 34% per month
over last year with the average One-Stop usage per week increasing by 66%.
✓ As of April 2003, over 10,000 job seekers accessed services through the One-
Stops, which is a 25% increase from the previous year.
✓ Total customer visits through April 2003 exceeded 74,000.
✓ One-Stop Business and Career Centers met or exceeded the eight WIA established
Department of Labor Performance Measures.
✓ In customer satisfaction surveys, Contra Costa's four One Stop Centers ranked in
the top 5 out of the 13 EASTBAYWorks Centers.
✓ When compared to 16 other organizations and companies such as Clorox, Levi
Strauss, and Safeway, the EASTBAYWorks Centers ranked second with a satis-
faction rating of 83% behind Clorox's number rating at 85%.
• One-Stop Business and Career Center Services to Employers
✓ Contra Costa County is recognized by other counties as having a cutting edge
model for providing service to employers. Unlike other counties, our Business
Services Team carries employers rather than job seekers as the primary customer.
✓ The Business Services Team targets two categories: Business Service/Resources
that includes business consultation, business-to-business referrals, workshops and
seminars. The second category is Staffing Assistance that includes promotion of
job openings, personalized recruitment events, tax credit and hiring incentive as-
sistance.
✓ From July 2002 through March 2003, the Business Services Team served over
1,475 employers of which 417 (28%) were repeat customers.
Reduced CalWORKs funding plus a declining economy continues to present the Work-
force Services Bureau with major challenges. Faced with shrinking resources and greater
demand for service, the timely granting of cases and the processing of monthly status re-
ports becomes problematic. Many of our clients experience multiple barriers to employ-
ment or are approaching their time limit on aid, which means they require more intensive
services. Accessing and developing new resources to support employment opportunities
is made more difficult by the struggling economy. In addition to these over-arching chal-
lenges we are faced with program changes that will require new skills and learning on the
part of staff. Such things as a new statewide computer system (CalWIN), the Federal re-
authorization of TANF and a move to quarterly reporting in CaIWOR.Ks require opera-
tional and service delivery modification to minimize negative effects while staff incorpo-
rate the changes.
EHSD Challenges 10-03 4
These budget reductions come at a time when it is crucial to maintain staffing levels and
work supports due to the weakened economy. However, this has not been passible.
Therefore, as resources become available it is our goal to restore Domestic Violence ser-
vices to the 2401-2002 level, to expand and enhance primary transportation services and
to increase staff to lower the caseload and better manage the workload.
Workforce Development Board
The Workforce Development Board continued to meet their charge to set policy for local
workforce systems and coordinate several programs over seventeen funding streams. The
following examples reflect their success:
• Rapid Response and Dislocated Worker Program
✓ Dislocated Worker - Through Workforce Investment Act (WIA) funding, 373 dis-
located workers were served. This is a 64% increase over the previous year.
-' Rapid Remonse - Coordinated services to 11 employers and 493 employees who
were faced with effects of downsizing.
• Economic Development Partnerships
✓ The Board is partnering with private sector and community entities throughout the
county to ensure that this county has a competitive workforce advantage.
Sector Funding Initiatives - Currently supporting two sectors with grant funding;
Information Technology and I-lealthcare/iNursing. Approximately 46 individuals
are being served.
' Tech to Teacher - Provides training to individuals with a strong math and science
background to obtain teaching credentials, thus addressing the shortage of teachers
in those fields. Currently 12 individuals are being served.
✓ Nurses Workforce Initiative - Designed to increase the pool of licensed LVNs and
Nurses as well as advance those already in the field on their career ladder. 20 in-
dividuals will be served with this funding.
• Workforce Development Services
One-Stop Business and Career Centers Four locations across the county served
over 7,700 clients this last year. 729 individuals enrolled and received WIA —
funded services, an 18% increase over last year.
✓ Business Services Representatives - Provide business services such as, business
consulting; broker business-to-business referrals and link business to resources for
permitting, financing, personnel benefits and skills training needs. The business
service team also implements First Source Agreements, coordinates recruitments
and assists in the pre-screening of applicants.
• Youth Services
* Revisited.the Strategic Plan and updated it to build a coordinated service system.
✓ Expanded the service provider base to address the needs of out-of-school youth.
✓" Served more than .260 youth.
• Business Services
EHSD Challenges 10-03 5
✓ 400 small businesses received services through the Small Business Development
Center.
✓' Additionally, over 350 entrepreneurs received training.
Over the past year, declines in the state and local economies, as well as budget reductions
for governments at all levels, have presented the Workforce Development Board with
some new challenges, and the continuation of old challenges. The Board's core Work-
force Investment Act funding from.. the U.S. Department of Labor has declined by 21%.
This decline in resources has coincided with a significant increase in customer usage of
the Board's four One-Stop Centers, and a growing demand for more youth development
services. Other challenges facing the Board include leveraging more effectively the re-
sources of the One-Stop Center partners, establishing more effective and integrated rela-
tionships and services with various community and faith-based organizations, attracting
new and more diverse business members to the Board, maintaining its regional partner-
ships with various workforce development partners, and continuing to evolve a regional
One-Stop service delivery system with declining regional resources. These challenges
have become more acute as Bay Area economic growth remains slow and, in the short-
term, sporadic and unpredictable.
x
Children and Family Services
The Children and Family Services Bureau has continued efforts to meet growing CPS
service demands, expand early intervention services and refine service quality.
Achievements in the following service delivery programs show some of the progress that
has been made.
• Emergency Response
' Received over 23,000 calls on the child abuse hotline and provided nearly 8,500
face-to-face assessments of child abuse/neglect.
✓ Participated on a statewide task force to develop a differential response system to
enable families at risk of child abuse or neglect to be served through community
resources.
• Independent Living Skills
Maintained the rate of 60% of youth graduating from ILP going on to post-
secondary education.
' Transitional Housing-Program - Served 1 I youth with supportive social services
and housing assistance as they emancipated from foster care.
✓ Emanci ap ted Youth Program The program has been expanded through funding
from Catholic Charities, The .Interfaith Coalition and the City of Richmond.
• Family Maintenance
,/ Provided Family Maintenance Services to over 1,590 children and their families.
✓ Other advances include: Family Maintenance policy and protocols developed,
safety assessment and risk assessment trainings were made available to all staff.
• Family Preservation and Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF-Federal)
EHSD Challenges 10-03 6
More than 2,500 families in East and Nest County received supportive services
that helped them remain together safely and avoid entering the child welfare sys-
tem..
✓ A Housing Specialist was available to assist families in securing safe and afford-
able housing. 40 families secured housing with the help of the specialist
✓ PSSF helped adoptive families who used Contra Costa's public system by provid-
ing an educational expert who provided advocacy in the schools. The educational
expert helped 30 families.
✓ Developed plans to open three Adoption Resource Centers, which are now opera-
tional.
• Family Preservation - State
✓" More than 100 families with serious child abuse and neglect issues received inten-
sive family preservation services for an average of twelve weeks. Approximately
88% of these families remained stable in their placement or were able to move to a
less intensive level of care.
• Kinship Support Services
✓ Almost 150 new and 350 existing relative caregivers received supportive services
that helped them provide safe, healthy and nurturing homes for more than 700
children who otherwise would be placed in foster care.
• Family Reunification
✓ Wrote Family Reunification plans for 832 children and reunited 234 children with
their families.
• Foster Home Licensing
✓ We approved and supervised 805 Foster Care Licenses, representing a bed capac-
ity of 892.
✓ 't`i'e had 182 foster homes and 39 relative caregivers ready to care for drug-
impacted children through our Heritage Project.
✓ Department staff continue to work on the implementation of statewide home study
standards.
✓ Held three one-day summits countywide, which included a focus on recruitment
strategies.
• Professional Licensing
✓ Continued with the LCSWfMFCC licensing in the Department to assist Master's
Level social workers in obtaining their licenses. 14 staff participated, which re-
sulted in improved professional development and the refinement of clinical inter-
viewing skills that better serve abused and neglected children. To aid in this proc-
ess, the Department's Staff Development Division applied for and received state
approval to provide Continuing Education Units.
• Substance Abuse
✓ Implemented a multi-departmental protocol to provide coordinated case manage-
ment for mothers in substance abuse treatment.
✓ In collaboration with Alcohol and Other Drug services, opened Corbin House, a
12-bed treatment facility for women in the child welfare system.
EIISD Challenges 14-43 7
✓ Continued the implementation of the Drug Endangered Children (DEC) protocol
in collaboration with other agencies. The protocol addresses the multiple needs of
children exposed to the toxic chemicals produced in the manufacturing of illegal
drugs.
• Training
✓ Child welfare staff logged 12,558 participant hours of training
The Bureau is engaging in a two-year project to provide Cultural Competency
training to all child welfare staff, which will provide cultural awareness and skill
development. With this training, staff will be better able to meet the service needs
of the diverse county population. A total of 440 training-hours will be provided
over the two-year period.
• Foster Parents/Caregivers
✓ To communicate more effectively with our foster parent community, we continue
to publish a newsletter six times per year.
✓ The Foster Parent Liaison resolved 869 issues for foster parents.
✓ The Caregiver Committee has been decentralized to allow greater participation in
each of the three geographical areas of the county. Additionally, there are monthly
support group meetings facilitated by staff, for our emergency foster parents and
our concurrent families.
• Receiving Centers
✓ Developed Post-Adoption Support Centers at the Receiving Centers to provide in-
formation and referral services for adoptive families as well as reading materials
and access to the Internet.
✓ We are initiating respite services for emergency foster parents at the centers.
• Welcome Dome Baby
Provided approximately 8,260 home visits to families with babies.
✓ 99% of Regional Medical Center families register for Welcome Home Baby.
✓ Won the NACO "Innovative Program"Award.
• Group Home for Emotionally Disturbed Children
Served 24 children with severe emotional problems, providing them with therapy,
medication evaluation and assessment so they can transition into long-term place-
ments.
• Child Welfare Redesign
✓ Awarded a second year of grant funding ($100,000) from the Stuart Foundation.
Received Hedge Funds Care Grant for $50,000.
✓ Using grant monies, we hired facilitators and began Team Decision Making meet-
ings in our three regional offices.
Grants enabled us to hire three part-time Foster Parent Recruiters, covering all
three regions of the county.
✓ Designated as one of six (6) in the State to receive funding to implement the State's
Child Welfare Redesign that complements our own redesign efforts that began in
2001.
✓ Implemented Team Decision Making that includes parents, family members and
community in the safety decision regarding removal of children from their parents.
EHSD Challenges 10-03 8
✓ Began Community partnering with community-based organizations and members
of targeted communities to develop joint accountability for the safety of children in
their communities.
Child Abuse/Ni eglect Prevention
✓ 88 children and 115 adults in 1.07 families with substance abuse problems received
drug abuse education and support.
✓ 84 children received respite care.
✓ 42 children received full-day, year-round, therapeutic preschool services.
✓ 185 families of children with developmental delays were provided education, re-
source, referral and support services.
✓ The Child Abuse .Prevention Council distributed over 4,500 Baby Bags, containing
child abuse and neglect information, parenting tips and resource information for
families.
2,500 individuals received child abuse/neglect training through Community Edu-
cation workshops.
In addition to the usual challenges faced each year by the Children & Family Services
Bureau, this year's budget cutbacks pose significant additional.challenges to implement-
ing key strategies in the Child Welfare Redesign Plan. This will necessitate continued
efforts to find grant funding for the full implementation of the plan. As an early "imple-
menter" for the State's Child Welfare Redesign, we will be implementing Differential
Response, which will have an impact on our screening and emergency response function.
This will also impact our community-based organizations as we begin to design a re-
sponse system that utilizes community in a coordinated response with our department.
Additionally, outcomes and performance measures will be required by the State as part of
the new California Children and Family Service Review. We will need to utilize data ef-
fectively and shape our practice and a system to ensure compliance with the outcomes.
And lastly, having received a Federal Grant to implement a Child Welfare System of
Care with our other public agencies, we will be developing and adding to our existing ar-
ray of services to better serve our children and families.
As funding becomes available there are two major areas of challenge that we wish to ad-
dress. First we wish to augment staff that is focused on implementing the Redesign Plan
including Voluntary Family Maintenance. Through "Voluntary Family Maintenance,
families at risk can ask for services that will help the family remain together and avoid
removal of children into foster care. The second area of focus is to hire staff that will be
assigned to a Quality Assurance Review unit. We are confident that our families receive
appropriate service, but it is very important to us that quality services are consistently
provided throughout our system.
EHSD Challenges 10-03 9
Aging and Adult Services
Aging and Adult Services continues to focus on service delivery areas that are critical for
meeting the needs of seniors and other vulnerable adult populations. These areas include
meeting growing APS service demands, expanding health and nutrition services and re-
designing the adult services delivery system. Some of our activities in these areas in-
clude the following:
• In Home Supportive Services Expansion
✓ 5,475 clients per month have care hours authorized.
Approximately 6,335,000 hours of paid home care are provided annually.
• Information and Assistance Enhancement
✓ Transitioned from serving just seniors to now also serving younger adults with
disabilities.
✓ In addition to providing Information and Referral, the program now provides inte-
grated screening of consumers for Adult Protective Services, Multipurpose Senior
Services, Linkages and In Home Supportive Services.
• Community Resources Database
✓ A web-based community resource maintained under a contract with Crisis Center,
Inc.
✓ Source data provided in collaboration with Health Services and Community Ser-
vices departments.
• In Home Supportive Services Public Authority
✓ Implemented a centralized enrollment of care providers into a payroll system.
Dental Benefits and transportation assistance added to provider benefit package.
• Family Caregiver Support
✓ Community based organizations are being funded to provide support services to
caregivers of frail seniors or to grandparents who care for their grandchildren.
• Info-Van
✓ Publicizes community resources and services for seniors at local community
events.
• Food Stamps
V Error rate decreased to 5.54% from a high of 13.99% in the 2001 fiscal year.
Like Children and Family Services, Adult and Aging Services deals with complex and
emotional service delivery issues. Some of the challenges facing the Bureau this year are
intensified by state budget cuts. The top focus areas include: Reinstituting the Quality
Assurance Program, the finalization of the Lang Term Care Integration action plan, a
plan for integrated client data collection and finally, the reinstitution of Eligibility
Worker training programs.
There are a number of enhanced services to our senior and dependent adult residents that
the Bureau is seeking to implement. The challenge is finding resources. As resources be-
come available our top two priorities for service restoration are an increase in Adult Pro-
EHSD Challengs x0-03 10
tection staff so we can undertake early intervention in cases of self-neglect and increases
in In Home Supportive Services staff to assure timely provision of services.
Employment and Human Services (Department-wide)
Some service delivery issues cross bureau lines and become concerns for the entire de-
partment. The issues identified this past year that meet these criteria include: staff de-
velopment, acquiring and improving facilities, improving accountability and support, and
revenue maximization. Some actions we've taken to date include:
• Staff Development
✓ 5,900 hours of training were provided.
✓ Across all Bureaus, staff engaged in a total of more than 36,800 participant hours
of training.
• Acquired and Improved Facilities
✓ Construction is underway on an East County facility and on renovations to the
Richmond location.
✓ Renovations were completed to three Central County Children and Families Ser-
vices facilities.
✓ Staff relocated from two now closed facilities, reducing overhead costs.
• Accountability and Support
✓ Instituted case reviews in the CaIWORKs and Food Stamp programs, which in
part resulted in the marked reduction in the error rate
✓ Gathered input and information on an ongoing basis from our client base using
feedback forms and surveys.
• Developed a personnel-tracking system that interfaces with the finance system,
streamlining the payroll process.
• Maximization of Revenues
Using GRIP funds to bring eCivis "grants Locator" system to the county to aid in
the discovery of and application for federal, state and private grant money.
✓ Working with the First Five Organization and Health Services, obtained additional
revenue to fund early intervention (Welcome Lorne Baby) and Child Welfare Re-
design Services,
✓ Worked through CWDA to minimize the negative impacts of a troubled state
budget.
✓ Successfully petitioned for grant funding from government and foundations to
support Child Welfare and SIT operations.
✓ We formed a Cost Savings Task Force. They use an Intranet-based program to
gather staff suggestions for savings and in tum provide feedback on the status of
the suggestions back to the site. To date the Task Force has processed numerous
suggestions resulting in net county savings of approximately $318,040.
Overall, the Department has been severely challenged over the past two fiscal years by
declining Federal and State revenues and increasing local costs. In 02-03, we reduced
$14.5 million from our budget, and $9.9 million in 03-04. As you know, this has re-
quired significant service delivery reductions in CalWORKs, Child Welfare, Adult Ser-
EHSD Challenges 10-43 11
vices, as well as in the departmental infrastructure. We have last 15% of our approved
positions over the past two years. Over 120 vacant positions, as well as 134 filled posi-
tions, have been released. since July 02. Additionally, over 10 million in community
based contract services has been reduced/eliminated.
As we begin 03-04, an additional challenge is posed by the new State administration.
With an eight to "T" billion dollar shortfall, and revenue options limited, the State will
attempt to reduce mandated services and local government support even further. As a
department, EHSD will advocate for needy children, families, and adults to receive the
highest of funding priorities in California and Contra Costa County.
BHSD Challenges 10-03 12